Sound City
“Sound City”
This one is for my music lovers out there. Sound City is a music documentary about the Sound City in Van Nuys, California. It is a passion project directed by former Nirvana drummer and current front man of his own now Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member band The Foo Fighters Dive Grohl. It is his journey to capture the magic of a place and more specifically a thing the main mixing board. As you watch this doc for anyone who is a music lover it is astounding the titans and iconic records that were laid down in that studio. The types of different music styles that were recorded their is a wide range and all the more leads to the myth of this studio and this mixing board. As Dave describes it with such affection upon him and the rest of the members of Nirvana arriving to record their breakthrough album Nevermind being overwhelmed by the smell of sour beer because of the Budweiser brewery next door pulling up in the parking lot and thinking, here? Then he describes walking in and going down the halls and seeing gold record after gold record of quit literally some of the most iconic recordings in rock and roll history and thinking its insane all the records were cut here.
As this doc just continues to slap you in the face with nostalgia and great interviews with other band members that recorded their many of them cutting their teeth there in that studio in their early days they all speak of it fondly. They all also talk about how it didn't matter that it always smelled of stale beer, be it from the brewery or the bottles of beer laying around the studio from a marathon recording session. There was something about that room and that equipment that was magic. Group after group of musicians walked in to lay down some tracks and walked out with lightening in a bottle. Whether it was 70’s rock, 80’s hairbands or 90’s grunge not matter what your style is Sound City was the place especially for the 90’s bands. They were the kids that grew up reading the liner notes of albums and seeing in the liner notes Recorded at Sound City Van Nuys, California. For many of them it was this pilgrimage that must be made. It was their Weeping Wall their Mecca.
It is like I said a passion project but not just for the director Grohl but for everyone involved from the biggest names in music history to the secretary and employees that speak so fondly of their time there. Grohl accomplishes with his first full length feature directing attempt to do what any good director strives to do he tells an engaging story with a great cast of characters. The fact that its all true and not a work of fiction makes it all that much more fascinating a story. You can watch it for free on YouTube or on Amazon Prime if you are a Prime member. 5 out of 5 Yellow Suckers.
*This movie review was originally published in The Current River Observer as the River Reels article written by Jeffrey Riggs
